The Video Game Soda Machine Project Is Vital Work

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The Videogame Toilet Museum is one of the most important institutions of video game [two words – pay attention, crapper curators] culture. It’s working tirelessly to document the dunnies of our virtual worlds, no to mention recording what lurks within their bowls. This is vital work at the heart of what video games are all about.

In a similar field, one jittering historian has now launched The Video Game Soda Machine Project to document gaming’s many fizzy pop dispensers. Send them your support, your thanks, and – most importantly – your screenshots of soda machines.

(I am actually strongly in favour of real-world brands appearing in video games more. Sure, doofy knock-offs and gags can be funny but they’re jarring in worlds which are meant to be our own. The problem with real-world brands in games is that they’re product placement deals, which means one brand dominates the virtuaworld to a ridiculous degree. Alan Wake never finds shit batteries from the pound shop, does he, only pristine gleaming Energizer batteries. Nah, if a world is meant to be ours, I’d rather see a mish-mash of a million brands and generics rather than parodies which stick out for not quite being what they’re supposed to be. Either that or go all Repo Man on it. The #brands have got us good, man. We’ll never get the #brands out.)

I made a mod that adds working vending machines to the original Far Cry, they would dispense useless cans but sometimes health packs or a grenade. Sadly I only just found out FileFront died, taking all my Stalker mods with it too.